The Philadelphia Flyers will try to move past a missed opportunity when they play the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night.
The Flyers were ahead 3-0 against the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday but ended up losing 5-4 in a shootout. Meanwhile, the Predators lost 5-2 to the New Jersey Devils after Nico Hischier scored a natural hat trick in the second period.
Morgan Frost had a goal and an assist, and Ivan Fedotov made 26 saves for Philadelphia. The Flyers lost for the third time in four games, bringing their record to 1-2-1 in their last four. Rookie right winger Matvei Michkov scored his eighth goal of the season as the Flyers finished a five-game homestand with a 2-2-1 record.
“One of our better showings in the offensive zone as far as puck movement and people moving without it,” said Philadelphia coach John Tortorella. “Take out seven or eight minutes, it’s a really good game by us. But that’s a really good team. They’ll capitalize.”
For Frost, it was his second goal of the season and his sixth assist.
“It’s nice to contribute, for sure. It’s been a struggle in that area for me,” Frost said. “It was nice to contribute there and hopefully keep building on it and contribute more going offensively.”
Sean Couturier has scored in back-to-back games for the Flyers, and Travis Konecny has points in nine of the last 10 games (six goals, 10 assists).
The Predators have alternated wins and losses in their last four games and have lost five of their last seven (2-3-2).
Filip Forsberg and Zachary L’Heureux scored for Nashville against the Devils, but goaltender Juuse Saros was pulled after giving up four goals on 30 shots in the first two periods. Scott Wedgewood stopped all 15 shots he faced in relief.
“I thought (the Devils) were faster, they won more battles, and they were just a better team for 60 minutes,” said Predators captain Roman Josi. “We had a little bit of a push in the third, but it was way too late. We’ve been talking about it — we have one good game and we fall back to a bad game, and we’re not in a position to do that. We need to find consistency.”
L’Heureux, Nashville’s first-round pick (No. 27 overall) in the 2021 draft, made it 4-2 early in the third period with a backhander on a breakaway for his second goal of the season.
“He’s been great,” said Josi of L’Heureux. “He has a lot of energy. Obviously, scores a nice goal. And just in general, gets on the forecheck, he gets pucks back, he’s hard to play against. So, he’s been great.”
Nashville was 0-for-5 on the power play, after having scored on three of eight chances in the previous three games.
Before Monday’s game, the Predators traded forward Philip Tomasino to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a fourth-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft. Tomasino had one assist in 11 games this season for Nashville.
Nashville forward Michael McCarron (upper-body, day-to-day) did not play on Monday.
